In recent years, all social networks have developed mechanisms for reporting content that incites hatred or violence.
Such reports trigger a review process, which can be either automated or performed by human moderators.
Based on this review, social networks may decide to remove the offending content and, in exceptional cases, block accounts responsible for distributing it.
The extraordinary mobilization of Israelis following the Simchat Torah attack has not gone unnoticed online. Israeli volunteers actively engage in extensive ‘hasbra’ (explanation) and participate in global online discourse.
To assist in this crucial effort against the flood of false and inciting information targeting Israel, we’ve created a guide for reporting antisemitic and anti-Israel content to facilitate its removal from various internet platforms.
Main Points of this Guide
When reporting a profile, one ought to specify the category under which you are requesting the removal of the profile. The principles behind the specific report are as follows –
- False Information (in a post or video) on Meta Networks (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) – report under the ‘False Information Regarding Politics’ category.
- Support, words of praise, justification, fundraising or assistance to Hamas, to figures from the organization or to the Simchat Torah attack – report under the ‘Terror’ or ‘Dangerous organization’ category.
- Verbal or visual content that constitutes a declaration of intent for violence or kidnapping against Israel, or in support of such an action – report under the ‘Violence’ category.
- Verbal or visual content of humiliation, comparison to animals/criminals, denial of existence or mockery of Israel/the Simchat Torah attack or the victims – report as ‘Hate Speech’ regarding ‘National Origin’ or ‘Hatred and Harassment’.
- In the case of threats, aspiration/calling/encouraging others to cause physical harm to Israelis – report under ‘Violence and Harassment’.
- In some networks content that is difficult to watch will be reported as ‘Violent and Explicit Content’.
- It is advised to go through the page or profile and report several posts as ‘Terror’, so Facebook will recognize that the following page displays terrorist content.
- On Tiktok, violent or hateful conspiracy theories which cause prejudice against Israelis, or information about a recent event with yet unverified data, or unsubstantiated conspiracy theories – report as ‘Offensive Misinformation’.
- Photos that have been edited to distort reality – report as ‘Deep-Fake Misinformation’.
- Verbal or visual content of humiliation, comparison to animals/criminals, claims of the Israelis’ moral inferiority – report as ‘Hate and Harassment’.
- You can report profiles or business pages – and not only specific contents. However, such a report will only be made if all the posts on the profile (or the absolute majority) violate the rules of the platform, or if the profile name, photo or bio contains hateful/inciting/violent content. Even if this method is used, it is vital to also report specific content as problematic, and not only whole profiles. The platform can choose to block the entire profile because of one or several offensive posts.
Note: Hate speech and violence against the State of Israel (except for conspiracy theories) cannot be reported since countries are considered entities to which such statements can be directed and are permissible.
